A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Appendix E
Design an Effective Program

Successful partnerships have concluded that every school and community must choose its own combination of opportunities to address local conditions and concerns. Nevertheless, to be effective, every program should:

1. Establish vision and focus

• Set clear goals and objectives. Goal statements provide an overall framework for a program; objectives for long-term results enable partners and participants to measure progress toward goals. Goal setting involves:
  • identifying the populations that the program will serve;
  • setting the scope of program strategies;
  • writing goal statements that express consensus among partners; and
  • aligning program goals with the goals of other local efforts.

• Objectives should build on the information collected by your community assessment. For each goal, consider the following types of questions:
  • Where are we now in relation to where we want to be?
  • What are our priority concerns?
  • What are the consequences of being where we are?
  • What assets can we use to move toward our goals?

2. Address needs in an appropriate manner

• Help children and families learn in many ways as part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance learning--at school, within the community, through formal schooling, through experience, and with an understanding that learning never ends. As the Carnegie Corporation has noted, programs should never consider themselves as "holding tanks." Programs can address neighborhood needs, such as providing tutoring in reading, math, or science and access to computers; creating safe, drug-free havens; providing enrichment in the arts and languages; providing intensive mentoring that helps students get into college or obtain a job; and aggressively teaching anti-drug and anti-violence approaches.

• Focus on the needs of individual children. Given appropriate training, staff and volunteers should be able to give individual children help with homework and to guide them in practicing important skills.

3. Coordinate efforts

• Connect with the regular school program by coordinating with and complementing the curriculum, making students ready and able to learn, and making the school a safe environment. Programs should proactively use the resources available in the school, including computer labs and recreational equipment.

• Collaborate with partners and provide education programs and services that meet real needs. By involving parents, neighbors, businesses, community members, law enforcement officials, and cultural institutions in the planning and operation of after-school programs, children can be guaranteed a much richer learning program.

4. Establish a system of accountability from the beginning

• Include a system for accountability and continuous evaluation to support program improvement. Continuous monitoring can provide rationales for program effects on children's learning and the need for collaboration, as well as provide guidance for management and ensure parent and participant satisfaction with the center.

• Use a governance structure that combines hands-on, site-based management with regular oversight and accountability to all partners. A system must be in place that allows school personnel and learning center administrators to have an easy back-and-forth relationship with accountability for actions and results.

[Appendix D: Conduct a Community Assessment to Inform the Selection of Education Programs]

[Appendix F: Consider Logistical Issues: How to Go from Design to Implementation]